Philadelphia's First Ben & Jerry's Franchise Breaks the Ice for New Urban Enterprise Network

Business Wire, August 17, 1998

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 1998--Philadelphia's first Ben & Jerry's franchise Scoop Shop was announced Monday by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, and Della Clark, president of the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center (WPEC).

The Scoop Shop -- a retail ice cream store featuring Ben & Jerry's flavors -- is the first project of the newly-formed Philadelphia Urban Enterprise Network, a partnership with the Social Venture Network (SVN), of which Cohen is a board member, and local business leaders.

Under the terms of the arrangement, which was awarded to Philadelphia because of WPEC's successful proposal to the SVN, Ben & Jerry's will provide resources and technical support to the proposed Scoop Shop. In addition to providing employment for area youths, proceeds from the store's operation will be used to fund WPEC's youth entrepreneurship programs.

According to Clark, a site will be announced shortly. SVN is a non-profit organization of business and social entrepreneurs who created the Urban Enterprise Network to promote and contribute to the economic revitalization of distressed urban communities.

SVN members and other companies are building business relationships that benefit those communities, including purchasing goods and services from minority businesses, investing in minority and community-based businesses and generating additional employment opportunities for local residents.

"The Urban Enterprise Network will help to create new jobs, foster economic growth and provide other tangible benefits to enhance the quality of life for people living in Philadelphia," WPEC's Clark commented.

Announcement of the Network's creation and the Ben & Jerry's franchise pilot was made at a reception held at the WPEC's 4548 Market Street offices (site of the former American Bandstand TV broadcasts) which also hosted an SVN board meeting that included CEO's of several major socially-responsible corporations.

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. was founded in 1978 in a renovated Vermont gasoline station by Cohen and Jerry Greenfield with a $12,000 investment. It has since blossomed into a major corporation that prides itself on giving back to the community through a variety of on-going initiatives.

WPEC is a 35,000 square foot business incubator in West Philadelphia that is home to 28 minority-run ventures employing 240 people. It started in 1989 as a project of the Wharton Small Business Development Center. WPEC purchased the historic abandoned WFIL-TV studio, the original home of American Bandstand, renovating it last year with a $4 million investment.

    CONTACT:  West Philadelphia Enterprise Center
               Caroline Pegelow, 215/895-4051